


Yosuke Play's: Persona Golden!

by mikuridaigo



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe-video games, F/F, F/M, Humor, Long-Distance Friendship, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-07 16:36:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5463545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikuridaigo/pseuds/mikuridaigo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Nine out of ten times when the television was on, there was a commercial for the latest and greatest MMORPG. Nine out of ten times it was the same commercial for it as well. Sitting on a computer screen was young pop idol sensation Risette. With her perfect brown curls, winged eyeliner, and cute pink and white school uniform, Risette held a controller in one hand and spoke into her headset. On her computer was a humanoid creature in a white dress and halo and with press of a button her character shined a bright light, and all the enemies on screen disappeared. As she leveled up, Risette turns to the camera and gave her signature wink. “Persona Golden! Now available!”</i>
</p><p>Or</p><p>Yosuke, a casual player of Persona Golden, meets video game legend by the name of Seta. Together, they grind through dungeons, send pictures of cats, and form a bond stronger than Yosuke's felt before. Funny too, because he doesn't even know what Seta (if that's his real name) looks like.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Nine out of ten times when the television was on, there was a commercial for the latest and greatest MMORPG. Nine out of ten times it was the same commercial for it as well. Sitting on a computer screen was young pop idol sensation Risette. With her perfect brown curls, winged eyeliner, and cute pink and white school uniform, Risette held a controller in one hand and spoke into her headset. On her computer was a humanoid creature in a white dress and halo and with press of a button her character shined a bright light, and all the enemies on screen disappeared. As she leveled up, Risette turns to the camera and gives her signature wink. “Persona Golden! Now available!”

Needless to say, this popular series skyrocketed in sales after using Risette as their sponsor.

“I finally saved enough money to buy it!”

“Dude, you have to catch up. I already found my Persona!”

“Whaaat? I heard that takes a while! Ugh… I think I can skip out on club today then.”

Yosuke turned up the volume on his ipod, allowing the beat of the music to drown out everyone around him. That game had only been released a month ago, but it was _the_ nonstop conversation for every single student. To be fair, Inaba was a small country town—barely anything happens, so this was the most exciting time for their young lives.

He would usually be excited for this game, since he played the older Personas, but after taking the part time position at Junes, his social circle of four people turned into the entire school. Everyone hoped Yosuke could use his employee discount/manager’s son privilege to get a cheaper version of the game (but to be fair, the game was $50, and Junes was the only store in town selling it), but it quickly became a nuisance. No one understood he could lose his job, get his father in trouble, or the fact that they were all being assholes for expecting a discount from a guy they resented since Junes was ruining a lot of small business in the central district.

Once he rejected everyone’s request he essentially returned to be the bad guy of the school. He was used to it by now, but it was still annoying. The trouble of having this game in the store partly ruined the experience or need for him to play the game.

“—pai. Senpai!” Yosuke removed his headphones. Running to his side was Kanji, the “tough gang member” of the school. Besides his bleached hair and tattoo, he learned Kanji was a giant sweetheart with a soft side for anything girly. But his scary demeanor did come in handy when the third years were threating Yosuke for not giving them a discount on the game.

“Mornin’ Kanji.”

Instead of his smile and brightened eyes, Kanji nervously looked around them, as if making sure no one was watching them. “Please tell me you’re free today after school.”

“Aw sorry man, I have a shift at Junes and a ton of homework.”

His kouhai let out a stressed groaned. “Chie-senpai wants to train this afternoon…”

Yosuke tried not to laugh, but by Kanji’s offended face, he must have done so anyway. Ever since Kanji joined their friend group and admitted to taking some martial art courses back in middle school, Chie unofficially made Kanji her training partner. Yukiko had no means to get her hands dirty or physical (a total lie, Yosuke found out later thatYukiko will not hesitate to punch a man) and Yosuke always used Junes as a scapegoat. Kanji, during his naïve stage, was willing to help Chie. It was now too late to back down, and all he had were random excuses and plans with other students to avoid her—very hard to do when his friends were also a small group of people.

“Well, maybe you two can work on tai-chi instead? It’s not as violent.”

“I tried that last week… does she know kicking a man in his groin is not an official move?” Yosuke cringed.  “We weren’t even on self-defense! And I think that was an obvious one _not_ to do to your partner.”

As a kid ran past them, Yosuke patted his back. “I’ll buy you a cup from our sporting goods section.”

“Thanks senpai…”

* * *

But besides the constant chatter about Persona and obscure questions coming from King Moron, school itself was very boring. Chie dragged (a pleading) Kanji to the riverbank and Yukiko rushed home to help at the Inn. That left himself and Teddie, the foreign exchange student from… somewhere in the west, to work at Junes.

Fridays were definitely busy in the video game department. Parents and students were still lined up for Persona Golden, and Yosuke was stuck on cash register and informal ‘customer service’ as concerned parents asked about the content of the game. Besides its typical enter a dungeon and kill things he didn’t find anything wrong with the game… but there were the overly concerned parents who had to know all details of violence, complain about it, and still buy the game.

The only positive part of his evening was a text from Yukiko, who said their test was moved a week back. That gave him the night completely free! He could get started on his homework… but seeing as the game was already in his computer, logging in wasn’t a bad option.

Despite the constant banter about the game, the gamer part of him begged to play, or at least grind a little more to level up.

He bought the game the first day of its release, but he only had a few hours put into it. And from what he was reading, leveling up and obtaining a “persona” was much more difficult to do. You had to be at least level 20 and complete one dungeon without magic or special skills. Yosuke did always enjoy a challenge, but with his schedule he easily fell behind most other players. Now, though, that the test was pushed back... 

Headphones on, controller in hand, and a darken room. Yosuke pressed play.

_> Welcome to Persona._

_> Currently playing: 10 million. _

It was no surprise that even at this late hour that many were still logged on. The developers took an extra step in the story and world of Golden. Like the original premise, players were able to create a character and walk through dungeons to level up, find rare items, obtain their personas, and battle each other or together. But for Golden, they took major cities of Japan and warped them into a twisted ‘shadow’ version, meaning players could battle monsters and shadows in their home town. One of the biggest surprises to Yosuke was that Inaba was one of the cities the game modeled after. How did they found such a tiny town? Who knows, but the more annoying part of the game was that he couldn’t leave his registered ‘hometown’ until he obtained a persona, meaning he was stuck in shadow Inaba until he finally leveled up.

And that became a problem while he played in the _Twisted Shopping District_. After two hours of playing, he was kicked out of the dungeon three times when he approached the final boss. Defeating that boss guaranteed him a persona, yet he was always killed at the last second. Other players were allowed to help, but Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, and Teddie were all offline.

Just as he was about to give up, he received a message from someone named _Seta_

Seta  
>Hey… I see you struggling there.

Standing in front of Yosuke was a character with silver hair, a black jacket, and glasses. His mouse hovered over the player, seeing him at level 50 with two personas.

Okay two? How in the world did this guy already obtain two personas? Not only that, but his origin is from Tokyo, very far away from Inaba.

Yosuke  
>Uh yeh… how did u no?

Seta  
>I’ve been scavenging here and I saw you pop outta that store for the third time tonight.

Yosuke  
>Oh…. U saw that.

Seta  
>I sure did.

Yosuke lightly tapped his fingers on the keyboard, trying to find a way to play off his failure.   
>Well, im more of a window shopper u no? Like 2 look, not buy lol.

He wanted to slap himself the second he pressed enter. What kind of answer was that?

Seta  
>Lol okay sure I’ll believe that.   
>(typing)  
>Need some help?

It was common for Yosuke to receive random help from other players, but he was still dumbfounded by the guy’s high level.

Yosuke  
>Srsly? Uh… y waste ur time helping me?

It took a minute or so for him to reply.

Seta  
>Why not? I’m just collecting items right now. I got time.

If someone with this high of a level was willing to help… well he might as well take it right?

Yosuke  
>Sure, that b gr8!

_Add Seta to your party?_

Once Seta confirmed the request, Yosuke was immediately given a new weapon and four types of attack items. His starter wooden knives were replaced with metal kunai with an attack of 150. The other items were Dry Ice, Pinwheels, and Firecrackers.

Seta  
>Just in case here’s some extra stuff.

Yosuke  
>Thx!

As they entered the dungeon, Yosuke nervously gripped his controller, ready for a possibly dead end battle. He made his way through the first two floors and encountered the same shadows as before, easily defeating them after he memorized their weaknesses. Seta skipped most of his turns, allowing Yosuke to take as much Experience as possible.

Once he reached the end of the third floor, Seta healed his HP and SP.

Seta  
>You ready?

Yosuke  
>Uh… yeah! Let’s do this!

He opened the double doors, and standing in front of them was a large monstrous shadow. The battle begun. If he remembered, it was resistant to physical attacks but didn’t completely block them. Wanting to try out his new weapons, Yosuke launched a regular attack, only decreasing it’s health by 50 or so points. The next person to attack was Seta, who also performed a regular attack with a Midare Hamon. It caused a little more damage, about 100 points, but not enough to bring it down. The shadow used an ice spell that hit 70 points of damage on Yosuke, but was completely blocked by Seta.

Seta  
>I’ll be your healer. Just keep attacking

Despite his new upgrade their physical attacks still wouldn’t be enough. He looked through his inventory and pulled out a pinwheel, hoping it would do some form of damage. And to his luck, the shadow was down. There was an option for an all-out attack. He selected ‘yes’.

Their characters jumped right on top of the shadow, but once the smoke cleared the shadow still had a bit of health left. It stood up and launched another attack that caused a significant amount of damage on Yosuke.

His health bar was low and he didn’t have a health kit on him. The round began with Seta’s turn, who used his Persona Kikuri-Hime to fully heal Yosuke. With the shadow still down, Yosuke used another pinwheel to finally defeat the shadow. It disappeared in black and red smoke, and a tarot card appeared before him.

 **> You have accepted Jiraiya into your heart!  
>You have formed a bond with Seta!** 

The card broke, and his Persona took its form. It was magician arcana. It’s stats read level 25, and had three skills: Power Slash, Tentarafoo, and Diarama. If he reached level 26 it would learn another move.

The screen flashed again once Yosuke finished reading it’s stats, and the two left the dungeon. Once they were back to their original meeting spot Yosuke sent a very excited and thankful message.

Yosuke  
>OMG! Duuuude ty so much! I finally got my Persona!  
>Like srsly if u didnt heal me I probly wouda thrown my controller outta window lol

Seta  
>Haha can’t afford that now can we?   
>And no problem, glad I was able to help.   
(typing)  
>If you want we can do another dungeon, just to get you to a higher level?

Yosuke glanced at the clock, reading 10pm. He shouldn’t have been playing this late anyway, plus he still had a reading to do for English class. 

But then he looked back at his newly found Persona and new bond with a very powerful player. He half-expected someone of that skill to just disregard Yosuke, so the fact that he was offering more help tempted him more to ignore his assignment.

Well… he wasn’t planning to go to the west anytime soon. English can wait.

Yosuke  
>Sure! If ur ok w/ that.

Seta  
>Yeah! I got lucky, school’s canceled tomorrow so I have free time.

Yosuke  
>Canceled? is there a holiday in the city?

Seta  
>Kinda, the Prime Minister is in town so it’ll be too crowded to go anywhere. We’re supposed to go as a substitute for class but I can see him from my apartment window.

Yup, English could definitely wait. He led Seta to another low level dungeon, and the next battle begun.

He instantly regretted his decision the next morning.

* * *

 

**May 28 th **

He woke up late and ran to school with uncombed hair and mornings breathe. For some reason all his teacher’s decided to call on him. He barely got a coherent sentence out, if he was called out while dozing off, or just completely misunderstood the question. It got laughs from his classmates, but he was sure his teachers’ expectations of him have plummeted to nothing.

He thought he was saved by lunch when he was finally able to put his head down, but Chie and Yukiko approached his desk to scold him. “Jeez Yosuke, what the hell has gotten into you?” He groaned in response. The sliding door opened with Kanji and Teddie coming in with bentos. They agreed once a week one of them would make bentos for their group. Luckily for Yosuke it was Kanji’s turn, and his meals usually had some protein that may get him through the rest of the day.  

“Oh, what’s wrong with senpai?”

When Kanji placed the bentos down, Yosuke blindly reached for one and used it as a pillow. “I, uh, was up late last night.”

“Why?” Yukiko asked. “The test was canceled so you didn’t have to study.”

“I wasn’t studying… I was playing Persona.”

Chie scoffed. “Oh you’re turning into the rest of the school huh? I thought you were better than that Yosuke!”

He furrowed his brows. “Hey! You have the game too! And for the record I didn’t mean to play that long, but I finally received my Persona and I had to level him up!”

“Whoa! How did you get your Persona already?” Kanji asked. “Last I saw you were still stuck in the shopping district dungeon.”

Yosuke finally sat up, and while he had heavy bags under his eyes he smiled. “I got some help! This guy saw me get kicked out and assisted me. Then after he helped me level more.” That smile turned into a frown, and his forehead was back on the table. “But we stayed up until 3am just grinding through.”

Teddie unwrapped Yosuke’s lunch. “Why was he up that late? Doesn’t he have school too? Wait! What if it was a pervy older man who lives as a shut in and lures high schoolers to play with him?”

Yosuke grabbed his lunch. “He was not! He was a high schooler too, but he’s from the city. The Prime Minister is there so they canceled school in his district.”

Chie grinned. “Ah another city boy! No wonder you stayed up with him. You were probably asking him questions about his life there huh?”

“I was not!” Her smile didn’t fade. “Okay I asked a couple of things. He’s going to a prestigious high school that was just 10 minutes from mine. And he works part time at a Junes.”

“Ooh, you two have a lot in common then. No wonder you had to stay up and talk with him.” Her voice was still in that teasing tone, not that Yosuke minded but he was too tired to deal with it.

Yukiko turned her phone on and opened the Persona App. It was an extension to the game to allow players to see their stats and chats without actually being at a computer screen. She clicked on Yosuke’s profile to see his new bond. “Seta? That’s his name?”

“Yeah, or at least his user name.”

Chie looked over her shoulder. “Wow, he’s a high level! How did he find you?”

“Like I said, he was just wandering around. I’m surprised too he offered to help me.”

“Wait, wait, wait, did you say Seta?!”

Their group turned to a random student sitting in the back. He rushed over and rudely stood too closely over Yukiko’s shoulder. Chie and Kanji were ready to hurt the guy if he touched her, but he stepped back and turned his attention to Yosuke. “You played with _the_ Seta?!”

“Uh… yeah? Is there more than one?”

“The Seta with Persona Izanagi and Kikuri-Hime?”

Yosuke raised his eyebrow. He remembered Seta mentioning the other Persona, but he didn’t use it during their session. “Uh yeah that’s him. Have you played with him before?”

The student looked like he was going to scream as he waved his hands around. “No! It’s like, _impossible_ to form a bond with him!”

“Not impossible, I did it last night.”

“No you don’t understand! Do you know who this guy is?!”

“Some kid from the Tokyo! What’s gotten you so riled up?”

By this point everyone in the classroom was mentioning Seta’s name. He was receiving stares and glares from various students, mostly those who play way too much. The one talking to them pulled up a video of the previous Persona game. A player named Narukami had the top score of this match, and by the end of the battle, he came out victorious with Thanatos.

Yosuke scratched his head. “Uh, well we’re watching a guy named Narukami so I don’t really get what’s going on.”

The student’s mouth dropped. “You seriously don’t know?”

He rolled his eyes and tapped his fingers impatiently on the table. Although he was an avid player of the Persona series, he never paid attention to the competitive plays like his friends in his hometown did. He liked to play for his own benefit, escapism really. “No, I don’t. Who is this Narukami person?”

“He was ranked #1 in Persona SEES and won the tournament last year. If you form a bond with him you will get exponential experience and stronger Personas! He changed his name when Persona Golden was released, but he’s such a natural gamer it was obvious who he was, even with a new name. ”

A second student chimed in. “He’s pretty good at avoiding people though. I heard he barely has any social links with anyone now.”

“What was he doing in the Inaba district?” Another student whispered.

“Maybe Yosuke was mistaken?”

Yosuke opened his own cellphone to check on Seta’s statistics. He compared it to the video released last year and found the similarities remarkable.

“You are playing with a legend. Don’t screw that up.”

Teddie crossed his arms. “Hey! If there’s one thing Yosuke doesn’t screw up it’s friendships! I’m sure he and this Seta guy will be great internet pals right?”

“Uh… yeah, of course.”

Once the student calmed down he returned to his table of friends, and everyone went back to their lunch. For the third time, Yosuke face planted into the tale, wishing for a good night’s sleep. Kanji rolled his eyes. “Didn’t expect that kind of commotion today.”

 “So Yosuke-senpai knows a famous person…” Teddie contemplated. “That means we vicariously know a famous person too!”

“Weren’t you just complaining that Seta was some pervert?” Yosuke mumbled.

“I don’t think it works like that…” Kanji deadpanned, referring to Teddie’s comment. “Besides, does it count if he’s famous in the gaming community? He’s not like a pop star or anything like… like that one girl.”

“Risette?” Teddie and Chie’s eyes lit up.

“Yeah her. Anyway I was wondering if one of you can help me with my math assignment…” Even in his tired state, Yosuke was surprised at Kanji’s easy dismissal of Risette, beautiful bouncy brunette, but hey, everyone has their type.

\--

By the end of the day, the constant humiliation from his teacher’s had worn Yosuke down. He hoped to take a nap after class, but they were given an essay to be written in English. And right as the assignment was passed out; he received a text from his father to take the Saturday shift because the regular workers said they weren’t showing up. Yosuke reluctantly took their shifts seeing as those girls had a tendency to ditch weekends. He stocked shelves, battled with customer complaints, and fell down a ladder when trying to retrieve the last ugly sweater for a sweet little old lady.

Just as he was about to leave Saki-senpai approached him and asked if he could take over part of her shift on Sunday too for some family business. Despite already taking over the other shifts, he had a soft spot for Saki and her situation was understandable. Seeing her smile at her request being granted made him blush, and was almost worth the extra hours. Just almost.

He returned home with more aches and pains and possibly a sprained ankle. Seeing as it was past 10pm, Yosuke fell into his bed and hoped his flat pillow would suffocate him into an eternal slumber. Why did his life get so difficult in a span of 24 hours?

Just as his eyes began to close he felt his phone vibrate. He blindly reached for it and tilted his head enough to peek at the screen. It was a message from Seta, asking if he was planning to play. Yosuke groaned again. As much fun as he had last night, he was too exhausted to even sit at his desk.

He quickly replied, saying he had work that night and too tired. The next message came as a surprise.

Seta  
>That’s alright. This may sound selfish but now that gives me a reason not to neglect my homework now lol

Yosuke lifted his head.

Yosuke  
>Oh yea? Don’t u play w/ other ppl?

Seta  
>Not particularly. My little cousin or my friend if they’re not busy, but other than that I’m usually going solo.

So what--whoever his name was-- said was true. Finding Seta to play with was difficult, so the fact that he was asking Yosuke if he was available must have made him special. But why? He was just struggling with a low level dungeon and Seta comes in with weapons and healing abilities.

Yosuke  
>Damn, playin solo n gettin 2 personas? U must be a prodigy!

Seta  
>Nah, I think I just don’t have a life and is a little too fond of a video game.

Yosuke scoffed, unsure if Seta was genuinely modest or was passively bragging.  
>Lol if u say so. So wut hmwrk do u have 2nite?

Seta  
>Just some assignments for my Prep classes.   
>You?

Huh, so he was in the upper division classes too. He didn’t mention that the night they were playing.

Yosuke  
>English paper. Idk y we need it. Altho I did neglect my readings. Gonna spend my Sunday tryin 2 write it lol.

A small text at the bottom of the chat. _Seta is typing._ It looked like he was taking a while to respond, so Yosuke closed his eyes again and said to himself he would reply to him tomorrow. His phone buzzed in his hand.

Seta  
>If you want, I can help you. English’s my best subject.

He sat up too quickly.

The blood rushed too quickly to his head so he was seeing spots, but his eyes intently stared to his phone. This high ranking Persona player, known to all of Japan except Yosuke, not only offered help in game, but offered again for real life important assignments. And all Yosuke could ask was why?

Teddie’s words about Seta being a pervy old man ran through his head. He wiped the foreigner’s words away as he tried and piece together an explanation. Of course he had none, other than Seta was really a nice person. That prompt the question why, again, because why was Seta that nice? Did he really have nothing else to do on a Sunday?

He tapped his finger on the locked screen, trying to find the best way to respond without sounding rude or pestering.

Yosuke  
>Really? U want 2 spend ur morning helping me? Haha.

The little ‘haha’ was supposed to sound casual in chat, but he felt himself letting out a nervous laughter. Maybe now Seta would take back what he offered, and he prepared not to be offended. After all he was just a stranger, and Yosuke should have kept up with his assignment anyway.

Seta  
>Yeah, I don’t see why not. English is a hard subject.

Oh. Seta really was a nice person. Yosuke felt a small smile grow on his tired face.

Yosuke  
>Dude, u r litrly savin my grade. Do u always help strangers?

He didn’t mean to send that question, but his subconscious must have wanted to since he just had to know how charitable Seta really was.

Seta  
>Yes? I tutor some of my classmates. But you’re the first person I’m helping online. With homework anyway.

Yosuke  
>Dude, ur my guardian angel. I owe u my 1st born.

Seta:  
>Nah I take all payments with cats.

Yosuke  
>We have 2 many cats here. U can have all.

Seta:  
>Deal. Talk to you in the morning.

Yosuke:  
>Thx again. Have a gud nite :) 

The brunet dropped back into his pillows with a relieved smile. Now that his horrible day ended with a promising morning, he fell into a wonderful slumber.


	2. Chapter 2

**May 29 th Sunday**

Teddie rubbed the eyeholes of his costume for the third time that minute. He squinted his eyes, trying to focus on his friend’s face. Something was definitely wrong. Yosuke was humming his favorite song and genuinely smiling to customers, including the lady who was yelling at him the other day. His hair was combed neatly instead of his usual bedhead look, and his skin was sparkling. Yosuke’s face only brightened more when Saki-san came by and thanked him again for taking part of her shift. He told her there was nothing to it, and her appreciative smile just illuminated Yosuke more.

The cogs in his brain started turning. Yosuke was smiling, he took care of his looks, and his skin was flawless. That only meant one thing.

“Senpai! Did you finally lose your virginity?!”

He’d never seen an angel fall so quickly and become the devil.

A large radish penetrated the eye socket of the mascot suit, just barely hitting his real eye. The children crowding Teddie quickly ran off as the demon stomped towards him, ready for another attack.

 “What. The fuck. Did you just say?”

Teddie slowly crawled away. “A-aah I think I was mistaken… S-sorry senpaaai!!” He was lifted off the ground and then thrown against a wall. The only person able to really pull that off was Kanji, but seeing as it was Yosuke still fuming, he knew he hit a nerve.

The torment quickly ended when a wave of customers entered the grocery department, forcing Yosuke to attend to them. That gave Teddie time to lick his wounds and find an eyepatch big enough for his bear suit. The crowds must have calmed Yosuke, because when it came their break time, he (somewhat) steadily walked over to Teddie and sat down.

“You can’t just burst something like that in public!”

“Huh, really? I didn’t realize Japan was so conservative on their private lives!”

Yosuke pinched the bridge of his nose. “I think many people outside Japan are conscious of their private lives! What made you ask that question anyway?”

Teddie shrugged. “Your aura is different is all. Like something changed. I usually see that change when someone loses their flower~ They’re a whole new per—Senpai please put your hands down!”

“Well whether or not I am a virgin… what makes you say I look different? I feel the same.”

“Hm… not really? It’s like you’re totally refreshed and ready to conquer the world!”

Yosuke tilted his head, trying to make sense of the foreigner’s words. As far as he recalled his routine before work was the same—homework, shower, a heavy lunch, then out the door. Sure he felt more awake than he usually did, and maybe he was able to better handle the customers, but what made that change? He looked over at Teddie who was still staring and waiting for an answer.

That’s when it hit him. When he woke up this morning he was able to finish his homework at a reasonable pace and still had extra time for himself. He and Seta began working on his assignment right after breakfast. Seta wasn’t lying when he said English was his best subject. He corrected all of Yosuke’s mistakes and noted each correction so Yosuke had a reference later. Those notes helped with the later problems and by lunch, he was done!

“Hm, well I finally have all my homework done so I guess that stress is lifted.”

“Eh? You got your homework done on time?”

Yosuke frowned. “As a matter of fact I did! And they’re all correct!”

“Are they now? So if I were to read them it would be perfect English?”

“Yes it would!”

Teddie stood up. “Alright, after school, your house!”

“Fine!” Yosuke yelled. He pushed himself out of the seat and stomped his way back in the grocery department. Teddie smiled under the suit, knowing he was finally able to barge into Yosuke’s home and eat dinner with his family. Plan succeeded!

Yosuke didn’t catch on until the middle of dinner, when his mother kept pushing food towards Teddie. The kid had a black hole for a stomach as he seemed unfazed by the large portions on his plate. Yosuke rolled his eyes, trying not to kick himself into falling for his dumb scheme.

After dinner Teddie did follow him into his room and flopped on his bed. “Alright, let’s see that assignment!”

He tossed his notebook to the bed and waited for Teddie’s response. Since Teddie was from the West, he had the best knowledge of the English language. In that mindset, he should have been the best tutor for English, but somehow Teddie just could not teach to save himself, leaving everyone to rely on Yukiko, who already had her plate full at the Inn.

Teddie’s eyes scanned each line. “This… this is all correct! Yosuke did you cheat?”

“What? Why do you assume that?”

He waved the notebook in the air. “Because this is too correct! Here, translate this sentence into English.” Yosuke stared at the sentence given to him. Remembering Seta’s notes, he quickly wrote down what he thought was correct. Teddie read it and gasped. “How is that possible?”

“You undermine my skills way too much you know?”

“What I mean is, English is your worse subject. A few days ago you translated ‘Can I have a second portion’ to ‘Can I have a prostitute’—and I don’t even know how you did that! So what changed?”

“I got some help this morning.”

“From Yukiko?”

“No. You remember Seta?”

Teddie tapped his chin. “Uh, your ‘online’ friend?”

“Yeah. We were chatting this morning and he was correcting my homework.”

“Uh huh…” Teddie nodded. “So a famous online gamer offered to be your tutor. That could only mean one thing.”

Yosuke's face dropped. “Oh god don’t say it--”

“Senpai’s being tricked by a pervy gaming professor! Hanamura-saaaan!!”

Yosuke covered Teddie’s mouth with his hand and pulled him away from his door. When his mother didn’t call back and ask why Teddie was screaming, he released him. “Dude! Stop saying shit like that! Look he’s not some pervert okay? He’s a student just like us. Most players of this game are teenagers anyway.”

“Yes but some of them are adults who use it to bait children and steal them away!”

“You have been watching too many crime shows.”

“Nuh-uh, I read the newspaper from my home town thank you beary much.” Again with the bear puns. Why must he insert those at such crucial times?

“What’s your point? He helped me and for the first time I got something higher than a C in English.”

Teddie wagged his finger. “My point is that he’s gonna want something back from you, as a gratitude thing. That’s how they get you! First he’ll help you with homework, then you two exchange items in game…. Then he’ll ask for pictures, then naked pictures! Of you!”

Yosuke rolled his eyes. “I think I’m smart enough to know not to send nudes over the internet.”

“I dunno… these guys are cunning.”

Yosuke only groaned. “Teddie, I appreciate the sentiment but I swear I’m fine. I’m just enjoying a game and getting my grades up. It’s not the end of the world.”

Teddie pursed his lips but didn’t push the topic further. “Fine… but if things go south you know we’re here for you.”

Yosuke smiled and lightly punched his arm. “Thanks. Anyway it’s getting a little late. I’ll walk you home, and we can stop by Aiya for their desserts?”

The blond perked and jumped on Yosuke, who almost regretted his offer right then and there.

 

 **May 30 th** **Monday**

The next morning Yosuke woke up to his phone buzzing rapidly with several notifications, specifically over 20 messages over Persona Golden chat/friend request. One of them was from Seta (announcing about a new special dungeon only available for a few days), the rest were bond requests. He groggily scrolled through all the names, recognizing some as his classmates. His face fell back into his pillow, wanting to continue sleeping until his other alarm woke him up five minutes later. He only had time to respond to Seta, and decided to save the rest for lunch.

He barely made it through the school gates when two girls approached him. They were in the class next door and part of the music club. Yosuke recognized them in passing and thought they were really cute (well, any girl was cute to him) but they usually ignored him. He remembered when he tried asking Kouzai Takahashi (short brunette with a flower pin) out for lunch, she immediately turned him down and they never made eye contact again.

Now Kouzai, and her friend Sayomi Yukimura, approached Yosuke with giggles and fluttery eyes. Sayomi was twisting her curly hair as she eyed Yosuke. “Hi Hanamura-san.”

“Uh… hi Yukimura-san. Lovely day isn’t it?” ‘Lovely’ was cloudy with a chance of rain in the afternoon. But the girls just giggled.

“It sure is. Say Hanamura-san…” Kouzai stepped closer to him, closing the space between their bodies. “You know we kinda suck at video games.”

Yosuke rubbed the back of his head. “Oh yeah? Depending on the game it can take some getting used to.”

He thought he saw them eye each other with an annoyed look, but he ignored it when they turned back to him with smiles. “Well… we were wondering if you’d like to help us. Specifically in Persona.”

“Yeah, Persona Golden is sooo difficult! We were wondering if you can form a bond with us and help us!”

The smile on his face turned into a frown as his hands fell to his side. Suddenly he was at Junes and classmates he barely knew ambushed him with the video game in hand, all yelling for a discount. Some were blunt about their wants, others tried to talk him up either by flirting or inviting out for food. In the end he rejected them all because it was his job, and no doubt he became the most hated kid in Yasogami. “Oh, uh well, I’m busy this week at work--”

They pouted. “But Sousuke-kuuun!”

“My name is Yosuke.”

Sayomi nudged her friend. “Dammit, you ruined it.”

His only escape was when Chie and Yukiko called out for him. He slipped past the girls, how arguing about his name, and led his friends away from them. He fell into Chie’s talk about a new kung-fu movie, hoping that would take his mind away from everything else.

Unfortunately as he entered the classroom, two guys approached him next. They sat in the back of the classroom and only approached him or Chie in regards to Yukiko and her love life, so Yosuke rarely spoke to them. “Yo Hanamura-san. We have a question about Persona.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah! So like… in order to get through this dungeon we need a third party member. Wanna join in?” He somewhat appreciated the straightforwardness of their request, but he did remember the only other interaction with them: the midnight release of Persona. He worked that shift since they were short, and those two guys were definitely there.

“Sorry, I have a shift this afternoon.”

“When are you free?”

Chie stepped in front of Yosuke. “He said he’s busy. Shouldn’t you guys actually do something instead of playing video games all day anyway?”

They just scoffed at his friend and returned to their seats. Yosuke sighed and mumbled a thank you to Chie, who patted his back. Before King Moron walked in, Yosuke deleted all game requests and debated if he should even log in for that week.

During lunch Yosuke led his friends to the rooftop. It was on the verge of raining, so none of the other students would dare to go and bother him. There was an awning by the doorway and a pole to tie umbrellas to in case it did rain.

Yosuke picked at his Junes lunch and ignored the conversation before him. As he turned on his cell phone for the lunch period, he was met with more requests, most from the same people before. Some of the requests came with messages (either sweet or aggressive) about linking social bonds in Persona.

A piece of chicken was placed into his bento by Yukiko. “I know you like katsu. Are they still bothering you?”

Yosuke bit into it. “I can get rid of them later. Just annoyed really.”

“Seriously senpai if you need us to I can talk with them.” Kanji offered.

“No, I mean I’m sure you can do something, but I doubt the teachers will be happy with your ‘talk’.” Although in quotations, Kanji usually did just talk, but his presence was too intimating that turned talking into harassment.

“Aw crap, I think my dad’s supposed to text me about my work schedule.” When he checked his phone again, he was still receiving more requests from his classmates. He scrolled to find his father’s message and wrote down his shift for that afternoon. 

Just as he was going to turn off his phone a new message from Seta appeared with an attachment. The picture was of a store front window in what looked like a gaming shop. In the center was a stuffed cat that was dressed as Jiraya.

Seta  
>Looks just like you.

Yosuke smiled.  
>lol thx. Its cute.

Light brown hair suddenly covered his cell phone. He scooted back because Chie was so close to his face. “Uh, can I help you?”

A mischievous smile was on her face. “Why are you smiling?”

“Because it’s a good day?”

“Now we know that’s a lie. You’ve been harassed all day about Persona and barely touched your lunch. It is not a good day for you yet you’re finally smiling. Talk, which cute girl is genuinely flirting with you?” She reached for his cellphone which he instinctively pulled away. “Yosuke this only looks more suspicious~ Oh! Is it Saki-san?”

Oh he wished it was Saki-san. He always had to text her first, and the only time she talked to him was either him asking a question, or if she had a question about her schedule. “No. It’s a cute cat.” He clicked on the picture so that the other messages weren’t showing.

Everyone gathered around him to look at the stuffed cat. Kanji’s eyes lit up. “Aw… I want it.”

“Hey, isn’t that the Persona Jiraya?” Teddie asked. “Where was this picture taken?”

“Some specialty game store in the city I think. There’s a lot of plushies dressed as the Persona character—Teddie!”

The blond snatched his phone away and returned to his messages. “Gasp! Senpai, you’re talking to him?”

“Who the hell actually says ‘gasp’? And yes I am. We were talking about a special dungeon that’s up today.”

“Who is Yosuke talking to?” Yukiko asked.

“Seta! The possibly pervy player! He’s seducing Yosuke with cats!”

Yosuke pushed him away and took back his cellphone. “For the last time he’s not pervy!”

“Isn’t Seta the famous Persona player? Why would he be some pervy guy?” Chie questioned.

“You never know. Like everyone’s saying he’s gone underground! Nobody can find him, so he has all the free time to creep on the deep dark parts of the internet—and then take Yosuke’s virginity!”

“Would you shut up about my virginity?!”

Kanji raised his eyebrow. “How would he take it over the internet…?”

Chie tapped her finger on her chin, completely ignoring Teddie and Kanji's comment. “Hm… well I guess it is a little weird that he just became invisible after his popularity. With how the game works you’d think you need more social bonds to become a high level.”

Yosuke shrugged. “Well seeing as how many people came up asking to play with me, I’m sure Seta was receiving the same unwarranted attention. He said he only plays with his cousin and a friend from his school.”

“And yoooou.” Teddie sang.

“Okay I guess me. But we’ve only done a couple of dungeons!”

“-Ahem- and helped you with your homework –cough- -ahem-“ Teddie sneered while covering his mouth.

“Saying ‘cough’ and ‘ahem’ isn’t subtle at all!”

Chie and Yukiko jumped in front of him. “He helped you with your homework?!”

“Gah!” Trying to escape, Yosuke scooted back and hit his head against the wall. “Owww.” He grabbed the back of his head.  “God, yes, he helped me! Why is that such a big deal?”

“Who just offers someone to help with their homework over the internet?” Kanji chimed in. “I mean dungeon crawling sure, but this is starting to sound sketchy.”

“Is there a way to tell if he’s actually a high school student?” Chie wondered. “Like getting his IP address and tracing it back to his location!”

Yosuke’s mouth dropped. “That’s stalking!”

“Well he’s baiting you!”

“No he’s not!” Yosuke threw his hands in the air. “Just—argh okay want proof? I’ll invite you guys to a game! You can interact with him then and I’ll prove to you he’s just a regular high schooler just like us.”

Everyone took a step back and gave Yosuke a little bit of breathing room. Yukiko looked at Chie for an answer, who then looked at Kanji, who looked at Teddie, and them Teddie winked at Kanji, so he turned back to Chie. She nodded, understanding what to do. “Alright, I think that plan can work. When are you free?”

Yosuke, who didn’t realize he was holding his breath, released a long sigh. “Awesome. I don’t have a shift Wednesday. I’ll message him and ask his schedule.”

Yukiko clasped her hands. “Perfect! Mission ‘find out if Seta is a pervert’ has been initiated! Pfft... that’s a great title for this!” She held her stomach as she subdued herself into one of her laughing fits.

Chie rolled her eyes. “I don’t even know why that was funny.”

“Pffttt haha! Because we’re on a mission! We’re not spies!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone who has commented, bookmarked, and kudos-ed this! Your support is very appreciated ^.^ Sorry this chapter has less Seta in it, but the upcoming ones will definitely have more!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This was somewhat a re-write of a previous fic (Jean/Marco for attack on titan) that died, then when I finally played Persona 4 Golden I had to write it for Souyo. Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed this! This will be a very, very long fanfic, so tell me if you're interested in more!   
> Also my biggest struggle is typing like Yosuke. 
> 
> Apologizes for any grammar mishaps. If there are any point them out and I will fix them. Thank you~


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